BE chats with Ford's Sheryl Connelly

In an exclusive chat with BE Connelly discusses the Trend Report that forecasts the future of the auto industry and moreRavi Balakrishnan | ETBrandEquity | December 21, 2016, 10:26 IST

Sheryl Connelly has been Ford's manager of global consumer trends and futuring for nearly a decade. In an exclusive chat with Brand Equity she discusses the Trend Report that forecasts the future of the auto industry. Read on to find out more...

There’s a quote from Henry Ford where he said “If I’d asked people what they wanted they’d have said ‘faster horses’.” We can’t just ask customers how to make their lives easier: we have to imagine a future that no one else has imagined.We start a year in advance and look for emerging patterns. We come up with 15 trends, hold workshops across the world with people who are interesting, provocative opinion leaders. We ask them to disagree with us to see if the trends withstand scrutiny. We take the most relevant ones and put together a survey. We surveyed 8100 people in 9 countries. That gives us some interesting nuances.

For instance?

When you talk of Decider’s Dilemma, India and China were No 2 and No 1 in terms of people saying they had too many choices. In the context of recognising these are emerging markets with a rising middle class people saying ‘this is too much’ is an interesting insight.

How do you zero in on the trends you started with?

They are ideas I keep bumping into. I attend a lot of conferences. Like TED which covers a broad range of subjects. I look to see if there are any patterns in the conversations. One of them was about whether procrastination was good or bad. Thinking about that trend led to the development of the broader notion of ‘are we really thinking about what’s the good use of our time?’ What we consider ‘time well spent’?When so many people are pushing for innovation and disruptive change, it’s not just a matter of thinking harder. People need time to disconnect, to let an idea soak or marinate for a bit. That’s why this notion for some people that procrastination is a good thing. There’s a rise in employees taking sabbaticals. They used to be the domain of academics. Now it’s true for even high pressure investment bankers who are trying to find greater balance in their lives. It not only gives time for better ideas, but results in a more well-rounded, happier employee and improves productivity all round.

You revisited a whole set of trends that had emerged in previous years like ‘Trust in the new black’ Why was this the right time to go back and check how consumers felt about these issues?

Trust was interesting to me since the concept of truth has become so blurred. It used to be that the truth was self-evident. But I wondered if that was the case, why is there so much conflict and controversy over even the most benign topics? Not just politics, but people’s opinions of brands, products and services. The concept of truth was always going to be coloured by perception. There’s a notion that could technology makes us dumber? India was at 51% on that. Half of the people in India recognise it. We find people are less willing to compromise. Technology acts as an echo chamber of our point of view.

Which of these findings came as a surprise to you?

The one that surprised me the most was when we asked do you imagine yourself riding in a self-driving vehicle in the next 10 years — the country that got behind it the most was India at 84%. China at 78%. The US was at 40% and the UK was at 30%. Those numbers show us that the appetite and readiness is not universal worldwide.

Having been on the roads here, I’m actually not surprised people in India would want a self-driving vehicle. Driving can get quite nightmarish. Any trends you saw coming?

We saw Decider’s Dilemma a while ago. It’s not just about choice. In the context of great uncertainty, people don’t want to commit to a car or a 30 year mortgage. That helps understand why the sharing economy has become so powerful. I’ve always felt ‘the sharing economy’ is a bit of a misnomer, because it implies people are participating due to altruistic motivations. We call it the ‘no strings attached’ economy. People like taking things nimbly and lightly and changing their levels of commitment when circumstances change. There are so many marketers out there eager to engage that you now have the sampling society. To buy an Apple Watch is a big investment. But now people are saying maybe you can rent one.

How do the trends help Ford? Either in development, marketing or sales and service

I’m really lucky because I can share the information widely across the enterprise. It of course influences marketing and product development but also unlikely categories like human resourcing or IT or purchasing. It is up to them to take the information I provide and translate it into opportunities for the company. The hard work is done by the engineers, designers and marketers who decide what’s most meaningful.It’s hard to draw a direct correlation. But when it comes to autonomous vehicles in the West, a lot of people believe the proposition is for younger audiences. Kids who are so preoccupied with their smart devices, they have no time to be bothered with getting a license. But when we met last year in Beijing, we brought to the discussion the fact that there was a much stronger case for autonomous driving for an older population. People are living longer lives. There are scientists to say the first person who will live to be 150 hasn’t even been born. We begin by asking if anyone has ever had to take away car keys from someone they love because they’ve got too old to drive? And if you’ve not done it, consider yourself lucky. Most people don’t want to give up their car keys. Because they are losing their freedom. Even more significant, people feel a loss of dignity when they have to depend on others. And so autonomous vehicles mean we could improve the quality of living for the eldest members of society.